PlayStation is 'poison', claims Venezuela’s President

Chavez slams violent videogames, again

The President of Venezuela has once again voiced his dislike of violent videogames, damning the Sony PlayStation as “poison”.

During his latest Alo Presidente broadcast interview, Hugo Chavez said: “Those games they call PlayStation are poison. Some games teach you to kill.”

Chavez has form here, previously attacking the likes of Nintendo for promoting, in his words, “selfishness, individualism and violence”. It's unclear if Chavez latest tirade was directed specifically at Sony or he was simply using the word 'PlayStation' as a generic term for all consoles and games.

Chavez would rather Venezuelans turn to “educational games” than play titles where gamers “bomb cities or just throw bombs”, according to an AFP report of the President’s rant.

In 2008, developer Pandemic Studios released Mercenary 2: World in Flames, a game in which a mercenary is sent to Venezuela to battle a dictator who has seized control of the nation’s oil.

Chavez doesn’t make an appearance in the game, but that didn’t stop the President claiming: “They once put my face on a game, 'you've got to find Chavez to kill him’."

Venezuela voted in a law late last year banning local sales of violent videogames. The law – considered under the Prohibition of Video Games and Toy Weapons bill - carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. ®